Factors affecting the growth of in vitro cultured lateral buds from Phalaenopsis flower stalks

Phalaenopsis flower-stalk buds cultured in vitro show 3 modes of growth: dormant, vegetative and reproductive. The effects of bud position on the stalk, temperature, and benzyladenine (BA) on the mode of bud growth were examined.Flower stalks were cut into 1-node sections, each with 1 bud, and inserted into solid culture medium, top side up. Buds on the upper sections had a tendency to remain dormant regardless of temperature. Sprouting buds placed at 20°C or 25°C showed reproductive growth except for some on the basal sections which grew vegetatively. At 28°C, all buds developed vegetatively independent of their original position on the stalk. The buds on the sections taken from both stalks which had elongated at min 18°C and min 28°C were subcultured; the mode of growth of the cultured buds was not affected by the temperature during flower-stalk elongation but was affected by the subsequent culture temperature.Cultured buds which had remained dormant were stimulated to sprout by addition of BA to the medium. At 5 p.p.m. and above, all buds began to develop, but malformations developed on the leaves of the shoots. All factors considered, BA at 2.5 p.p.m. was found to be the optimum level. The further development of the buds released from dormancy by BA was also affected by the position on the flower stalk and by cultural temperature.     

Foraging adaptation and the relationship between food-web complexity and stability

Ecological theory suggests that complex food webs should not persist because of their inherent instability. "Real" ecosystems often support a large number of interacting species. A mathematical model shows that fluctuating short-term selection on trophic links, arising from a consumer's adaptive food choice, is a key to the long-term stability of complex communities. Without adaptive foragers, food-web complexity destabilizes community composition; whereas in their presence, complexity may enhance community persistence through facilitation of dynamical food-web reconstruction that buffers environmental fluctuations. The model predicts a linkage pattern consistent with field observations.     

CO_2施肥时非无菌条件下树脂膜容器内文心兰试管苗接种技术

以文心兰 (Oncidium)品种‘AlohaIwanaga’为实验植物材料 ,采用高透气性的树脂膜培养容器 (有利于有毒气体的排放 ) ,在培养基中添加不同浓度 (0 %、0 0 0 1%、0 0 0 5 %、0 0 1%、0 0 5 % )的NaClO ,进行非无菌环境下 (不使用超净工作台 )文心兰试管苗的接种实验 .结果表明 ,常规培养条件下使用有糖培养基NaClO浓度为 0 0 1%与CO2 施肥条件下使用无糖培养基NaClO浓度为 0 0 0 5 %和 0 0 1%时 ,培养过程中均未见污染现象发生 .培养后的试管苗在主要生长指标方面与对照 (不添加NaClO、无菌条件下接种 )相比无明显差异 ,表明采用树脂膜培养容器可以在有菌条件下进行文心兰试管苗的接种 .     

Efficacy of chemotherapy and palliative hypofractionated radiotherapy for cats with nasal lymphoma

Nasal lymphoma (NL) is the most common nasal tumor in cats, and radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these treatments have been described as the treatment for this disease. However, the previous studies included various machines and protocols of radiotherapy. Therefore, we aimed to retrospectively compare the prognosis among cases treated with palliative hypofractionated radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and a combination of them with united machine and protocol of radiotherapy. When compared overall survival and progression free survival, there was no significant difference among these three groups. The data of this study suggested that similar efficacy could be achieved by palliative hypofractionated radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of them.     

Migration pattern of shirauo Salangichthys microdon Bleeker, in the Ishikari River system and adjacent nearshore sea area, Japan, as estimated by otolith microchemistry analysis

ABSTRACT:   The purpose of the present paper was to reveal the migration pattern of shirauo Salangichthys microdon Bleeker, in the Ishikari River system and its adjacent coastal sea areas. To this end, the strontium–calcium (Sr:Ca) ratios of the otoliths of 98 individuals were examined. Profiles of the Sr:Ca ratios during the life history after hatching in the estuary of the Ishikari River fell into two different patterns. One was characterized by a high (slightly fluctuating) Sr:Ca ratio throughout the life history; the other was characterized by an initial high Sr:Ca ratio followed by a lower value later in life. The former pattern was considered to be that of estuary–sea residents and the latter that of upstream migrants. Most upstream migrants migrated upstream once, although several did it twice. Back-calculated body lengths during the upstream and seaward migrations of the upstream migrants varied widely from 6.4 mm to 39.8 mm and from 13.5 mm to 79.4 mm, respectively. These findings suggest that estuary–sea residents and upstream migrants co-occurred spatiotemporally, and suggest a wide variation in migration patterns in the shirauo's life history.     

Natural Abundance 14C Content of Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) from Three Marine Algae

Analysis of the natural abundance ¹⁴C content of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) from two edible brown algae, Undaria pinnatifida and Laminaria japonica, and a green alga, Ulva sp., revealed that the DBP was naturally produced. The natural abundance ¹⁴C content of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) obtained from the same algae was about 50–80% of the standard sample and the ¹⁴C content of the petrochemical (industrial) products of DBP and DEHP were below the detection limit.     

Is It Possible to Use 90Sr and 137Cs As Tracers for the Aeolian Dust Transport?

A noble approach for the estimation of the deposition of the Asian dust over Japan by using atmospheric anthropogenic radioactivity, ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs, is proposed. Those radioactivities once deposited globally onto the ground by the past nuclear test, etc. are resuspended along with the surface soil particles in the air by the storm and deposited again on the ground. The difference in ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr activity ratios in the surface soil between dry and wet climatic conditions gives a clue to know about the source of the dust. It was found that the average activity ratio in the deposited material (average: 2.1, n=82) at MRI, Tsukuba in the 1990s is not close to that of the surface soil taken in neighborhood (median: 6.8, n=8), which had been considered as the primary source. While, it is close to that of the soil samples taken in the arid area in the Asian continent (median: 2.0, n=4), which is the one of the source regions of the aeolian dust. Thus we can reasonably assume that deposited dust in Tsukuba is brought not only from the neighboring fields, etc. but also from the arid area in the continent. Using a simple two-component model it was estimated that the Asian dust may transport about 90% of ⁹⁰Sr and 70% of ¹³⁷Cs depositions observed in Tsukuba in the 1990s. Also, Asian dust may transport about 2/3 of the dust deposited in Tsukuba.     

Isolation of Araguspongine M,a New Stereoisomer of an Araguspongine/Xestospongin alkaloid,and Dopamine from the Marine Sponge Neopetrosia exigua Collected in Palau

A new stereoisomer of an araguspongine/xestospongin alkaloid, named araguspongine M (1), has been isolated together with 12 known compounds, araguspongines B (2) and D (3), dopamine, three galactosyl diacylglycerols, 24-methyl cholesterol, 5,6-dihydrocholesterol, β-sitosterol, and three 5α,8α-epidioxy sterols (11–13), from the marine sponge Neopetrosia exigua (formerly Xestospongia exigua) collected in Palau. The structure of 1 was assigned on the basis of its spectral data analysis. This is the first report on the isolation of dopamine from a marine sponge. This compound may be produced by an endosymbiotic Synechococcus-like cyanobacterium. Compounds 1–3 and 11–13 showed cytotoxicity against HL-60 at IC₅₀’s of 5.5, 5.5, 5.9, 22.4, 9.5, and 9.6 μM, respectively. The possible biosynthesis origin of the isolated metabolites is discussed.     

Micro flora related to the nitrogen cycle in the tropical upland farm soils

Samples of upland-farm surface soils (0–10 em in depth) belonging to various great soil groups were collected in 28 upland sites in Thailand during the rainy season.

Among the microbes related to the transformation of nitrogen, namely ammonifiers, ammonia oxidizers, nitrite oxidizers and denitrifiers, the count of denitrifier showed the maximum value amounting to 10⁴ to 10⁵ per 1 g of dry soil, followed byammonifier. The population level of nitrogen-fixing blue green algae was unexpectedly high, being 10³ to 10¹

The microbial counts in Brown Forest Soils, Rendzinas and Grumusols with high content of organic matter, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium tended to be high.

Non-calcic Brown Soils, Reddish Brown Lateritic Soils, Alluvial Soils, Red-Yellow Podzolic Soils and Gray Podzolic Soils which lack in some nutrients showed intermediate levels of microbial populations, while the counts of nitrogen-fixing blue green algae in Alluvial Soils and those of denitrifier in Red-Yellow Podzolic Soils were markedly high. In the case of Low Humic Gley Soils and Regosols with low content of organic matter, available phosphorus and available potassium, the population of microbes was generally small.

The relationship between the organic matter content and the microbial population of soils was positively significant at 0.1 % level only in the case of fungal population (r=0.551), while the relationship between the available phosphorus content and the microbial population was positively significant at 0.1% level only in the case of Azotobacter (r=0.682).

The relationships between the total nitrogen, the exchangeable potassium, the amount of NH₄+^-N, the amount NO₂ ^--N, or the amount of NH₄ ⁺-N+NO₂ ^--N and each microbial population were not significant in any microbial groups.

The count of denitrifiers in upland farm soils of Thailand was 9 times as high as that in non-volcanic upland-farm soils of Japan and was 23 times higher than that in volcanic soils though large variations were seen among the great soil groups of Thailand. Conversely, the population of non-spore-forming nitrite oxidizers in the upland farm soils of Thailand was 1/100 that in non-volcanic soils of Japan and 1/280 that in volcanic soils. In the case of Azotobacter, the count in upland farm soils of Thailand averaged 2,800 per 1 g of dry soil. while that in non-volcanic upland farm soils of Japan was 77 on the average.

The ratio of aerobic bacteria to actinomycetes in upland farm soils of Thailand was 2.31, while that of non-volcanic soils of Japan was 7.28.